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20 Amazing Examples of Light Photography

Photography is the art of capturing light, originally on light-sensitive paper, and today more commonly by means of digital sensors. By playing with shutter speeds and moving lights in front of the camera, photographers can produce some astonishing images. Long exposure times can create lighting that seems to take on an otherworldly almost physical form, or reveal mysterious effects of natural light that are invisible to the naked eye. From light graffiti and light painting, to natural wonders and long exposure light performance photography, this post brings together twenty examples of this amazing art form.

1. Saint-Tropez(Geishaboy500)

For this sparking image taken under a south coast pier, the photographer employed a Speedlight flash, a pair of Maglites, LED light sticks, coloured gels and absolutely no Photoshop trickery. The photograph is taken straight from the camera, using exposures of up to thirty seconds.

2. Ultimate (Anotherfaceintheclouds)

This stunning image is an example of light art performance photography (LAPP), which is a high-end evolution of light graffiti. The image is a single photograph capturing the movement of specially developed coloured lights and luminous tools.

3. Light Graffiti (Guille Pagano)

4. Goku (Artwork Rebel)

Goku is a Japanese manga character whose special abilities include firing energy blasts formed by chi energy. In this image, the photographer uses light graffiti to give a plastic Goku figure this superhuman ability.

8. Light Painting with LEDs (Tom Arthur)

9. Eleven-Hour Star Trails (Josch Hambsch)

Josch Hambsch achieved this awesome photograph by aiming the camera at the sky and leaving the shutter open for an almost all-night exposure of eleven hours. The stars’ trails reveal the spinning motion of the Earth, in this instance the South Celestial Pole as seen from Namibia.

12. Light Painting (Laughtonb)

13. Light Painting with a 3pi Robot (Donjd2)

This photograph was made using a twenty-second exposure to capture the path of a Polou 3pi Robot following a course laid out with black electrical tape. The robot is fitted with red, blue and green LEDs to create the light trails seen in the image.

20. Cold Cathode Light Paint (Maticulous)

In this fish-eyed view, a two-minute exposure records the movements of a cold cathode light creating strangely supernatural effects.

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Designer Daily is a place for designers to find inspiration, resources, and thoughts that will be useful to their daily work. It is maintained by Mirko Humbert, a Swiss graphic and web designer who is available for freelance work. More info.